Keep_Relentless wrote:Lomax has posted before a challenge to the apparent contradiction of something beginning from nothing, which is to ask the question "Can something begin without beginning from anything?" I have also heard this argument elsewhere and unfortunately I have dismissed it out of hand as lingual manipulation. I am still inclined to think that it is so, because it assumes that influence can come from nowhere. Of course, I think that those supporting free will must argue the same.
I agree with your position here. The problem is how to make it logically watertight. Perhaps we could argue as follows:
1. "X begins" implies a temporal boundary between (a) a state in which X does not exist and (b) a state in which it does.
2. A state in which X does not exist is something – namely, a state.
3. Therefore, if X begins, it must begin from something.
4. The "something" it begins from must have a temporal element, otherwise it would never be "time for X to begin".
You also asked whether existence can suddenly become non-existence. Probably not, but I will think further about this. Would it make any difference if we substitute "the universe" for "existence" in this question, and/or "non-existent" for "non-existence"?